All posts by jmp

How We Move from There to Here

Think about moving things that are valuable. Things we can’t afford to waste. Things like water, electricity, food. Think about how we do it now and how we might do it better. Better Food There are many good reasons why the locavore movement is sweeping agriculture. Food is best that is locally grown, we are coming to agree. It is fresher; Read More

Police: their uses and abuses

Being a good cop might be the toughest job in the world. Maybe that’s why there are so few of them. Fortunately, there are some very good cops. Peace officers who walk the talk about “Protect and Serve.” Men and women in blue who do their level best to treat people, all people, fairly and Read More

World Population Through History

Our world is rife with problems. Many of them, some would say most of them, are related to the earth’s burgeoning population. A fascinating look at the growth of population world-wide from humankind’s earliest days to the present can be found HERE.

Something Scary and All Too Real

  “On current trends, the Arctic will be ice-free in summer by 2040.” Think about that statement for a minute or two…and then think about the fact that the evidence to support it is absolutely clear. Read the full and very scary story here 

Birthplace of Climate Change Changes

Maybe it’s unfair to call the United Kingdom the birthplace of climate change. The world’s burgeoning population is a factor, too. It is, however, the place where coal was first employed on a mammoth scale to provide energy, powering the Industrial Revolution. And it was an early example, with its soot stained buildings and poisonous Read More

Talk About a System that ISN’T Working…and Why?

So, United Airlines takes a passenger who’s sitting in a seat he paid for and knocks out a couple of his teeth in dragging him off the plane, just ’cause it can, you know. It’s yet another egregious example of systems in our society that no longer serve the customer (except a whipping!) and rather Read More

Want to Get Away From It All?

This man did, for 27 years, without human contact. He didn’t have a plan, he wasn’t running from anything. He just headed into the woods one day and stayed there for nearly 3 decades. A fascinating story here.    

How to Capture an Autonomous Car!

Cars without drivers are about to become common on our roads and highways, a new subspecies roaming the earth. How can you capture one of these creatures in the wild without doing it any harm? The answer can be found HERE.

Infrastructure Blues

Infrastructure, the stuff that ties the vast reaches of our country together, powers our homes and businesses, stores our water and delivers it to where we need it, and enables us to get from one place to another, receives another poor grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Ain’t quite a total failure but Read More

Whither the Jobs? Robots on the March!

Will robots replace humans in performing most of the jobs that now provide paychecks for the majority of workers? If so, when? And what will be the fate of those workers once they’re out of work? The Economist offers an interesting look at the subject here.